1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air-conditioning apparatus used as a supply outlet or an air-conditioning damper to adjust the direction and quantity of air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
(a) To maintain air in a building at good conditions, it is general to arrange air-conditioning ducts above a ceiling of the building and supply outlets fitted to openings formed on the ceiling at proper locations. Air with properly conditioned temperature and humidity is supplied through the supply outlets to an interior of the building to control conditions of the interior properly.
FIGS. 18 and 19 show an example of an air-conditioning apparatus according to a prior art. An intermediate duct D is arranged above a ceiling, and a terminating duct Di is connected to the intermediate duct D. The terminating duct Di has a space A of a pyramid frustum shape whose broadening portion is oriented to an opening formed on the ceiling. Inside the space A, there is disposed a cone portion C which is movable up and down. The cone portion C comprises a plurality of cones Cm having different sectional areas respectively and concentrically installed to uniformly supply air to an interior under the ceiling.
One drawback of this type of air-conditioning apparatus is that the cone portion C is hardly removed from the space A and, therefore, the direction of an airflow is determined by the constitution of the cone portion C once the terminating duct Di and cone portion C are installed to the ceiling. Therefore, it is difficult to adjust the airflow according to the interior conditions.
The cones Cm are fixed in the cone portion C, i.e., the cones Cm are not movable in the cone portion C, once the terminating duct Di and cone portion C are installed. Therefore, it is impossible to finely adjust angles of the airflow depending on the conditions in the interior.
Further, the cones Cm shall be manufactured separately and assembled and fixed concentrically to form the cone portion C so that they require many manufacturing processes to increase manufacturing and material costs.
Meanwhile, because of diversified values under a current ripe culture background, it is needed to consider a total design of an interior. Therefore, it may be required to provide color patterns and designs on outlets of the air-conditioning apparatus. The prior art outlet described in the above is not adequate to provide the design patterns or elaborate designs on its surface exposed to the interior of the building because the prior art outlet is fixed and not adjustable freely.
Since the corn portion C shall be movable up and down to adjust air supplying angles, it is necessary to provide a stopping mechanism for the outlet.
(b) To adjust the quantity of air flowing through an air-conditioning duct, it is known to interpose a damper in the middle of the duct. The damper has vanes which are closed and opened to adjust the quantity of air flowing through the duct.
FIG. 25 is a perspective view schematically showing the constitution of an air quantity adjusting damper according to a prior art. The damper comprises a box-like frame F having a predetermined width in an air flowing direction, rotary shafts S supported by bearings disposed in the frame F, vanes V fixed to the rotary shafts S respectively and rotatable with the rotary shafts S to open and close ventilating openings in the frame F, a linkage L for linking the vanes to each other to simultaneously drive them for predetermined angles, and an external driving mechanism Do composed of a handle and a warm gear mechanism connected to one of the rotary shafts to externally open and close the vanes.
Compared to its simple task to correctly adjust the air quantity, this kind of damper has drawbacks that it has a complicate structure and many parts due to the linkage and external driving mechanisms to increase costs, and that the vanes are difficult to adjust to optional angles separately depending on situations on the downstream side.
(c) An air-conditioning duct tends to be disposed at right angles or curved depending on the structure of a building. At such a nonlinear portion, an elbow is formed where a problem of pressure loss is caused. To cope with this problem and secure a uniform airflow, guide vanes are disposed at the elbow. Generally, the guide vanes are assembled fixedly in a solid frame.
The curvature and pitch of the guide vanes are determined according to the shape, cross-sectional area and curvature of the elbow, and, according to these conditions, the guide vanes are welded and assembled to a solid frame. These welding and assembling works are complicated and take a long time. Further, it is difficult to make the elbow with the guide vanes accurately to meet the conditions of the duct. In addition, material cost is relatively high because the guide vanes are separately attached to the solid frame.